Swim
I was fortunate enough to line up early in the swim. This year the time trial start went off 2 docks and I think I got in about 2 mins after the race started. I went so fast I didn’t even have time to look! After about 5 mins I had clear water and didn’t swim close to another swimmer until that last 5 mins of the swim. I was hoping for around 55 in the swim, but came out in 58. I had some tightness in my upper quad during the swim so I had to back off a little. My last couple of IM races I had quad/glute cramping issues so I was pretty worried.
Swim Time: 58:33
T1 - 2:44
No issues here, just had to grab my helmet and number, shoes were already on the bike. I did have to find my bike which was a first for me in IM but I had scouted my exact row before the race well and found it quickly.
Bike
Once onto the bike I could still feel the tightness in my quad. I took it super easy and also tried to let me HR come down. This is the first race I’ve ever monitored my HR and I was amazed at how high it was starting the bike. I’m sure I’ve gone way too hard in the past, since I had to go very easy to get my HR in the range I wanted. My strategy was to find a comfortable and even HR and try to keep my average steady throughout the ride. I will say that my HR in training was much lower than my HR on race day so I had to find a good zone on-the-fly. After about 10 miles of taking it easy it seemed about a 140 bpm avg would be reasonable. I would end up averaging 139 for the entire ride. On the hills I only let it go up to about 150, anytime I’d break that barrier I backed off. Getting an early start was great, I had no traffic until I hit the 2nd loop of the bike. Then it was actually pretty chaotic for the next 30 miles as you had to weave in and out of bikes sometimes 2 or 3 deep in the road. There wasn’t really that much blatent drafting I just don’t think there was enough road for people to spread out. Around halfway on the bike I started passing some of the pro women so that told me I was having a pretty good ride and relatively I was going fast enough. I really expected to get passed more, but getting the early start and swimming well put me just enough ahead of the crowds. The only real issue I had on the bike was a little bit of stomach discomfort. I probably drank a little too much as conditions were about perfect and I’m also thinking an aggressive aero position may be hard on the gut. For Hawaii I’m going to raise the bars a little to see if that helps. Won’t have to worry about drinking too much since it should be at least 15 degrees hotter!
I was fortunate enough to line up early in the swim. This year the time trial start went off 2 docks and I think I got in about 2 mins after the race started. I went so fast I didn’t even have time to look! After about 5 mins I had clear water and didn’t swim close to another swimmer until that last 5 mins of the swim. I was hoping for around 55 in the swim, but came out in 58. I had some tightness in my upper quad during the swim so I had to back off a little. My last couple of IM races I had quad/glute cramping issues so I was pretty worried.
Swim Time: 58:33
T1 - 2:44
No issues here, just had to grab my helmet and number, shoes were already on the bike. I did have to find my bike which was a first for me in IM but I had scouted my exact row before the race well and found it quickly.
Bike
Once onto the bike I could still feel the tightness in my quad. I took it super easy and also tried to let me HR come down. This is the first race I’ve ever monitored my HR and I was amazed at how high it was starting the bike. I’m sure I’ve gone way too hard in the past, since I had to go very easy to get my HR in the range I wanted. My strategy was to find a comfortable and even HR and try to keep my average steady throughout the ride. I will say that my HR in training was much lower than my HR on race day so I had to find a good zone on-the-fly. After about 10 miles of taking it easy it seemed about a 140 bpm avg would be reasonable. I would end up averaging 139 for the entire ride. On the hills I only let it go up to about 150, anytime I’d break that barrier I backed off. Getting an early start was great, I had no traffic until I hit the 2nd loop of the bike. Then it was actually pretty chaotic for the next 30 miles as you had to weave in and out of bikes sometimes 2 or 3 deep in the road. There wasn’t really that much blatent drafting I just don’t think there was enough road for people to spread out. Around halfway on the bike I started passing some of the pro women so that told me I was having a pretty good ride and relatively I was going fast enough. I really expected to get passed more, but getting the early start and swimming well put me just enough ahead of the crowds. The only real issue I had on the bike was a little bit of stomach discomfort. I probably drank a little too much as conditions were about perfect and I’m also thinking an aggressive aero position may be hard on the gut. For Hawaii I’m going to raise the bars a little to see if that helps. Won’t have to worry about drinking too much since it should be at least 15 degrees hotter!
Louisville is a challenging ride but I liked the course a lot, scenic and lots of change in views to keep you from getting too bored. Just enough hills to use different muscle groups as well. I’d say it’s similar to IM Wisconsin but about 5-10 mins faster.
The numbers:
Time: 5:18:49
Avg HR: 139
Avg Power: 219 (for first 2 hours, then the Polar PM quit working)
Avg Cadence: 84
Total Ascent 3700 feet.
Calories: About 2300
Sodium: About 1000 mg per hour
T2 - 2:54
No real issues here either, I did change into running shorts and a singlet for this race, SO much more comfortable than running in a tri suit for me, and cooler!
Run
From the first steps out of transition I felt good. This was really a surprise, since I didn’t feel bad on the bike but I certainly didn’t feel like a Rockstar either. My plan also on the run was to keep the HR low and consistent, I was thinking under 150 before the race, and was able to run about 7 min pace keeping my HR around 145, so I made goal of keeping it under 150 for the first 10 miles. I did this mostly. I was fortunate to start the run just behind one of the pro women, Kim Loefler. We talked and she asked me what I was trying to run. I told her I was thinking maybe sub 3:10. She matter of factly told me she would run under 3:10, so I had the perfect running partner! We ran together off and on for about 22 miles of the marathon, along with her bike escorts as she moved from 4th to 3rd place in the pro race. Around mile 12 I started feeling a little tight so I took 2 tylenol. Around mile 14 I was able to start picking my pace back up to around 7 min pace. I had slowed to around 7:20 pace from 10-13. Running with a speed/cadence monitor is fun! I have a feeling it’s only fun if your running well, if things go bad you probably wouldn’t want to know your pace at every moment! With the time trial start I really never knew how well I was doing, I knew I was doing well since there was no one close behind me and very few guys ahead of me but I had no idea how well. The last turn around is at about mile 20. It's around here that you can start to have some confidence that you're going to be able to finish and to know that you are going to be able to finish strong. I kept my pace around 7 mins per mile and my HR in the low 150’s over the last 10k. I tried to pick it up when I realized I was going to be close to a 3 hour marathon, but running any faster than 6:50’s just wouldn’t happen. My HR just wouldn’t go up, it seemed to be stuck in a zone! With about 2 miles to go I realized I would break 9:30 and run just over 3 hours! I always thought this type of run possible but had never been able to execute it quite this well. I ended up running 3:04 a 7 min IM run PR! 3rd best IM time outside of my 9:17 and 9:11 at IM Florida but a much better performance then either of those races.
The numbers for the run:
Time: 3:04:23
Avg HR: 151
Avg Cadence: 88
Total Ascent: 170 ft.
Total Time: 9:27:19
Overal Place: 24th, 4th amateur, 2nd in 35-39 Age.
Kona Here I come!
MC
